The single-player portion of Postal 2: Share the Pain is largely the same as before. Rather than adopt the conventionally linear structure of most first-person shooters, Postal 2 has a more open-ended structure reminiscent of the recent Grand Theft Auto games, only you're stuck running around on foot. The cars lining the streets are apparently just there to mock you. As The Postal Dude (that's actually his name), you're tasked with completing a series of mundane errands over the course of a work week. You may attempt to complete these errands conventionally--for example, on Monday all you need to do is collect your paycheck, cash it, and then buy a carton of milk--but you'll probably end up resorting to violence, and not just because you can.

As the week goes on, certain factions will automatically get on Dude's bad side, so going through the game without killing anybody becomes practically impossible after a while. Also, the freedom to explore the town of Paradise is undermined somewhat by the loading times that crop up in between relatively small sections of town. Again, these are shorter and definitely more tolerable than before, which makes the game less frustrating to play, but you'll still find yourself plotting routes through town that require you to go through as few of these transitions as possible.